


Rocket Science

by karasunovolleygays



Series: Valentine's Kisses 2020 [28]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Current Manga Spoilers, M/M, Sort of Friends to More than Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 13:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22496962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunovolleygays/pseuds/karasunovolleygays
Summary: Kageyama wondered where one was supposed to go once they reached the top. Ushijima shared an old lesson about embracing the journey.
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Series: Valentine's Kisses 2020 [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589239
Comments: 6
Kudos: 146
Collections: non-karasuno kageships





	Rocket Science

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lojo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lojo/gifts).



> This was written for my 2020 Valentine's Kisses: 29. Staring at each other’s lips for a moment before moving closer, as if drawn together by some unseen force.

The lights glared bright in the gymnasium as Kageyama took the court for his first championship match of his professional career. He had worked his entire life to break this threshold, to reach this height, and there he was, his name scattered throughout the crowd written on signs with everything from paint to glitter. 

Spectators had never been very high on the list of things Kageyama cared about; after all, the game consisted of six guys on one side and six guys on the other. Everything else was secondary, a distraction.

This time, however, it was hard to ignore the thunderous rush of noise that washed over him as he hit the end of the ramp.

He nearly jumped when a solid hand rested on his shoulder. Kageyama’s brows rose when he saw that the hand belonged to Ushijima. “Keep your eyes on the game. It’s the only thing in front of you.”

“Right,” Kageyama murmured, mostly to himself as an unfamiliar knot of nerves twisted in his stomach. 

The pregame fanfare dragged out the start of the match, unhelpful to the unusual pool of anxiety roiling in the back of his mind. However, the noise died out and the first service of the night came hot and heavy to the Adlers’ side of the net, and everything started to click back into place.

Five sets surged on at a blistering pace, and by the time the last ball hit the opposite side of the court, Kageyama’s lungs burned and his body ached. Neither, however, kept him from howling in victory along with his teammates.

In the locker room, the entire team buzzed with life despite their collective exhaustion. Kageyama, however, sat staring at his hands for a long moment, still reddened from over two hours of continuous use, and they shook.

He almost jumped when Ushijima sat next to him, giving him a curt nod. “You did well.”

“I —” Looking back and forth between Ushijima and his hands, Kageyama tried and failed to come up with words to say to articulate this feeling that still tingled in his skin. “How are you so calm?”

Ushijima huffed. “I don’t know if it’s sunk in yet. I’ve been working for this my entire life.”

Their teammates had all matriculated to a bar down the street from the gymnasium to celebrate, but Ushijima and Kageyama passed on the revelry. The two of them sat quietly in varying states of undress until they were the only ones left in the locker room. 

“We should probably leave,” Ushijima mumbled.

Kageyama nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

They finished up and meandered out of the locker room together, in no particular hurry to go anywhere. There wouldn’t be any practice the next day, no matches for months. Kageyama didn’t know what he wanted to do at this point.

At the curb, Ushijima paused and asked, “Walk with me?”

“Yeah.” Kageyama shoved his hands into his pockets, and the two of them headed toward the coast with no particular destination in mind.

The journey halted at a foot bridge between two bluffs. Legs hanging from the edge through the rails, they looked out over the bay leading into the heart of Tokyo. The waters lapped at the shore unperturbed save for the occasional passing freighter. 

“I don’t know what to do now,” Kageyama finally admitted, breaking the silence between. “All I want to do is keep on playing, but the season is over.”

Ushijima lay on his back, arms spread while he looked up at the murky night sky. “I know what you mean.” 

Kageyama mimicked Ushijima’s sprawl and sighed. “I’ve wanted to win at the highest stage my whole life. I did it, but why doesn’t it feel real?”

“Hope it never does.” Ushijima lolled his head over to meet Kageyama’s curious gaze. “When your dream is your new reality, then what do you have left to dream about?”

Brow scrunching in thought as he let the words sink in, Kageyama frowned. “But how can you do that when it’s actually real?”

Ushijima propped himself up and closed his eyes, a sigh on his lips. “In middle school, our team went to nationals and won the whole thing. After we got back from Tokyo, it was empty because everything we worked for happened, but as soon as it was there, it was gone. The only thing left of it was the memory.”

The words stirred a familiar sensation in Kageyama. He sat back up and hunched over his crossed arms. “I don’t want to let that happen.”

“I know the feeling.” A soft smile crept across Ushijima’s lips. “When I got to high school, I got to know the guys on the team as people and not players, so all of our successes, I remembered getting there with them. When I look back on high school, I don’t think about missing nationals my third year. I think about going on that last journey together with my friends.”

Stymied by hearing more words coming out of Ushijima’s mouth at once than he had ever heard him say altogether, Kageyama gasped and leaned toward Ushijima like the rest of the world was already gone. “Does that mean you’ll think about us later?”

When he turned to Kageyama, Ushijima’s umber eyes shone with the glow of the nearby lighthouse, and for a moment, Kageyama forgot to breathe.

“I already do.” 

Kageyama’s cheeks flamed at the comment, but he didn’t tear his gaze away from Ushijima’s as he murmured, “Good.”

Which of them leaned in first, Kageyama wasn’t certain, but he reckoned they did it the same way they were wont to do those days as teammates: in synchrony.

Their mouths pressed together, and when Ushijima parted his lips, Kageyama groaned and accepted the invitation. His knowledge and experience with the practice of kissing was probably outstripped by all he understood about rocket science. However, something innate nestled in his belly took over and he gave himself over to it, to Ushijima, to the memory they were creating. 

He knew it would be as sweet as any championship, but unlike the season, it didn’t have to end until they wanted it to.

They headed back the way they came, stopping occasionally to steal another kiss when nobody was looking. Soon they return to the gymnasium, which was long locked up.

Kageyama reached out and slotted his fingers with Ushijima’s. “Waka-san, you said the team made things special. Do you want to go and see them?”

“You know, I think I do.” Ushijima accepted Kageyama’s hand, and soon they were ensconced in a dim corner of a bar clouded with smoke. They drank and laughed with their comrades, and as he soaked in the experience, Kageyama wondered how it took so long for him to arrive at the very same conclusion that Ushijima did: that anything worth doing was worth doing together.


End file.
